Ah, the internet. You’ve done it again. Folks on social media are flipping their lids after discovering that the secret to the tastiest, crispiest popcorn is to freeze it – and eat it straight out of the freezer.

It may seem sacrilege to chill your once hot, buttery popcorn, but converts reckon it’s worth the sacrifice and they make a pretty compelling case.

Freezing the popcorn after popping reduces moisture content, making for a crunchier bite. The lower temperature also highlights flavours of the popcorn that might otherwise get lost in a mouthful of hot popcorn. Salt tastes saltier, the nuance of the butter sweeter, you get the idea.

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Freezer fans also swear that the frozen popcorn reduces the little husks that get stuck in your teeth and honestly, we’d do anything to dodge that.

Not only are folks swearing by the frozen popped kernels, others are going a step further and either freezing their unpopped kernels or storing them in the fridge – allegedly to create a superior popped-to-unpopped ratio.

And before you go thinking that this is just another TikTokker dangling click-bait, there is a bit of history – and science! – behind the notion.

Pillsbury, an early player in the microwave popcorn game in the US, was labelled “Frozen Microwave Popcorn” and was stocked in the freezer aisle. Do watch the ad from 1984, it’s a true time capsule. If it’s good enough for the Doughboy, it’s good enough for us.

The science? By freezing the kernels, you are locking the moisture in. The moisture within the kernel determines how well it will pop. Contained moisture leads to superior pop, or so the theory goes.

Is popcorn healthy?

It depends – how much butter and salt are you adding? Popcorn in its natural state is a great snack when you’re craving something to pick at. Popcorn is a whole grain, a good source of fibre, and has a low GI which means you’ll feel full for longer.

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